How to Play Elevator Poker

Elevator poker is a fun game that builds on the basics of stud poker games. Players receive four cards to start, and then must use one of three sets of community cards to complete their best poker hand. Elevator poker borrows one of the rules from Omaha Hold 'Em poker, requiring each player to use exactly three community cards and two of his own hole cards to form his best poker hand. The player with the best poker hand wins the entire pot.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Playing cards
• Poker table
• Poker chips

1. Organize a home poker night for you and your friends. Make sure you have plenty of drinks, food and a large selection of poker games to play. When playing Elevator Poker, you can have up to 11 players at a table in a single game. The ideal number of players to avoid overcrowding a table in Elevator Poker is between 6 and 9 players.

2. Deal four hole cards to each player after they ante. The first two cards dealt to each player should be dealt face down. The other two cards should be dealt face up. After each player has received all four cards, they make look at all of their own cards.

3. Deal seven cards into the center of the table. These should be dealt in the formation of an H, with two three card columns and a single card in the middle column dealt between the other two columns.

4. Instruct each player that they must use two of their own four cards from their hand, along with any row of three cards from the community cards in the center of the table. The center card can be used for any of the three rows.

5. Conduct the first wagering round. The player with the best face up hand begins this first round of wagering.

6. Reveal each card one at a time. Reveal them going down the first column, then down the second column, and finally reveal the middle card. After each card is revealed there is a betting round. The first person to bet each round starts with the player sitting to the left of the dealer and rotates clockwise for each new wagering round.

7. Reveal the hole cards and determine the winner. In Elevator poker remember that each player must use two and no more than two of their four cards in their own hand along with any row of three cards in the center of the table. Once a player declares his or her hand they may not change their mind. The player with the best poker hand wins the entire pot.

Tips & Warnings

• Some players alter the rules slightly to limit the number of wagering rounds. Using the standard rules there are eight individual wagering rounds. To reduce this, some players flip over each column at one time each, and the center card separately. This reduces the wagering rounds from eight to four.
• Don’t get too excited early in the revealing of the community cards. Remember, you must use an entire row of cards, and only two of your cards from your own four card hand. This means straights and flushes can be very hard to get. You won’t know if you have your straight or flush until the center card is flipped over since it is part of every community row of cards.